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The CIA drug trade business starts to unravel?

What began as a minor scandal without fanfare in April of 2006 with the bust of an American-registered DC-9 airliner carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula gathered momentum when a Gulfstream business jet flying out of the same airport was busted in the Yucatan 18 months later carrying 4 tons of cocaine.

The level of citizen outrage increased with the crash-landing of the second American plane. With the news that the number of American planes sold to Mexican drug traffickers was not just one or two planes—but 50—the scandal is now threatening to mushroom into something much larger.

[...]

When a bank robber steals a few thousand dollars before holing up with a hostage, does the FBI take more than eighteen months before divulging the name of the suspect?

Certain cases involving politically-connected Americans suspected of involvement in drug smuggling, through ownership of drug smuggling aircraft, seem to be being treated, not as crimes, but as urgent matters of national security.

< sigh > when the HELL is this house of cards GOING TO FALL THE HELL DOWN...?

Sibel Edmonds: FBI cover-up

THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets.

The assertion follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI whistleblower, who worked on the agency’s investigation of the network.

Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations while based at the agency’s Washington field office.

She says the FBI was investigating a Turkish and Israeli-run network that paid high-ranking American officials to steal nuclear weapons secrets. These were then sold on the international black market to countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

One of the documents relating to the case was marked 203A-WF-210023. Last week, however, the FBI responded to a freedom of information request for a file of exactly the same number by claiming that it did not exist. But The Sunday Times has obtained a document signed by an FBI official showing the existence of the file.

Edmonds believes the crucial file is being deliberately covered up by the FBI because its contents are explosive. She accuses the agency of an “outright lie”.

“I can tell you that that file and the operations it refers to did exist from 1996 to February 2002. The file refers to the counterintelligence programme that the Department of Justice has declared to be a state secret to protect sensitive diplomatic relations,” she said.

The freedom of information request had not been initiated by Edmonds. It was made quite separately by an American human rights group called the Liberty Coalition, acting on a tip-off it received from an anonymous correspondent.

The letter says: “You may wish to request pertinent audio tapes and documents under FOIA from the Department of Justice, FBI-HQ and the FBI Washington field office.”

It then makes a series of allegations about the contents of the file – many of which corroborate the information that Edmonds later made public.

cripes... when is this going to blow down the goddam house of cards...? soon...? please...?

I'm off to the Nevada caucus [UPDATE] [UPDATE II]

[BUMPED]

oh, yay... if i'm so moved or have the opportunity, i'm going to give a short speech airing my opinions which, no doubt, will earn my escort outta there... more later...

[UPDATE]

ok, here's how it went... in my precinct, 24 people stood up for hillary, 22 for obama, and 11 for edwards, which, by caucus delegate-allocation rules, gave 2 delegates to hillary, 2 to obama, and 1 to edwards... oh, yeah < cough, cough >... i stood up for edwards, not cuz i happen to be an edwards supporter, he just happened to be the least objectionable choice... < sigh > not an auspicious start, i'll admit...

i did strike up a good conversation with a couple who were in the edwards group, and we shared our deep concerns over what's happening to the constitution, rule of law, and accountability... i'll probably arrange to meet them for coffee sometime this week...

With nearly 70 percent of the vote counted, Clinton led with 51 percent to 45 percent for Obama (Ill.). Former senator John Edwards trailed far behind with five percent.

i can't say i'd vote for a republican before i'd vote for hillary, but it's close... i can't look at her list of foreign policy and national security advisers and take any comfort that a goddam thing will change with her in the oval office... 'course, i can't look at that same list for any goddam one of 'em, repub OR dem, and not want to hurl my cookies...

Cybersecurity, cyberhackers, extortion, and probably a new assault on civil liberties

when you read something like "rare public warning" issued by a "CIA analyst" who knew it would be written up for public consumption, you can be DAMN sure SOMETHING is being telegraphed here... this shit isn't just tossed out there for the hell of it... we're very likely being prepped for something... any guesses...?

"We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet," Tom Donahue, the CIA's top cybersecurity analyst, said Wednesday at a trade conference in New Orleans.

Donahue's comments were "designed to highlight to the audience the challenges posed by potential cyber intrusions," CIA spokesman George Little said. The audience was made up of 300 U.S. and international security officials from the government and from electric, water, oil and gas companies, including BP, Chevron and the Southern Co.

"We suspect, but cannot confirm, that some of the attackers had the benefit of inside knowledge," Donahue said. He did not specify where or when the attacks took place, their duration or the amount of money demanded. Little said the agency would not comment further.

The remarks come as cyber attackers have made increasingly sophisticated intrusions into corporate computer systems, costing companies worldwide more than $20 billion each year, according to some estimates.

Cyber extortion is a growing threat in the United States, and attackers have radically increased their take from online gambling sites, e-commerce sites and banks, which pay the money to prevent sites from being shut down and to keep the public from knowing their sites have been penetrated, said Alan Paller, research director at the SANS Institute, the cybersecurity education group that sponsored the meeting.

if this isn't prelude to yet another move to justify internet surveillance and further reduce the goddam little that's left of individual privacy, i'd be mighty surprised...

Friday, January 18, 2008

It's gotta be an improvement

ya can't help but think that dancing and singing has GOT to be an uplifting moment in what is undoubtedly a pretty grim existence...

With nearly 11 million hits, it is one of YouTube's most watched videos: 1,500 orange-suited inmates, plus one pony-tailed prisoner in mules and a halter-top, in a Filipino prison doing a perfectly choreographed version of the dance sequence of Michael Jackson's Thriller video.

The video of the dancing inmates at Cebu Detention and Rehabilitation Centre was uploaded to YouTube in July by Byron Garcia, a security consultant for the Cebu provincial government and the brother of the province's governor, Gwendolyn Garcia.

Michael Jackson's role is played by Crisanto Niere, with Wenjiel Resane playing "the girl" ; both are on drug-trafficking charges. Most of the inmates in the video are on remand awaiting trial for alleged crimes such as murder, rape and drug trafficking.

The inmates carefully emulate every move from the Michael Jackson hit, their shoulders jerking zombie-style, heads swaying in time, clapping and swirling in a truly awesome display. One that needed a bigger audience, Mr Garcia reckoned.

The next step was to see if the prisoners would be allowed to perform at Sinulog, a popular street-music festival scheduled in Cebu next Sunday, saying it would add "something new to the traditional Sinulog presentation".

But Cebu city's mayor, Tomas Osmena, remains unmoved by the funky zombie dancing of the inmates. "I will not allow it even if Michael Jackson joins them," Mr Osmena told the Philippine News Agency. "In jail, the inmates can dance all they want."

The nine-day fiesta is organised by the Catholic Augustinian order to honour the infant Jesus with a solemn religious procession followed by a raucous street-party. It also includes a beauty pageant and a trade fair.

Wall Street resumed its downward trek Friday as skittish investors, unable to hold on to much optimism about the economy, drew little comfort from President Bush's stimulus plan.

Investors had already pulled back from a big early gain, with the major indexes trading mixed as Bush began to speak. By the time the president finished announcing a plan for about $145 billion worth of tax relief, the indexes were well into negative territory.

"It's disappointed in the size of the economic growth package. Wall Street's showing its displeasure," said Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh. "Honestly, I think the institutional investors understand the limits to the government's ability to enact economic change."

seriously... it may be time to liquidate and move your u.s. dollars into something more stable...

Krugman: the U.S. is "playing the role usually assigned to third-world economies"

The story has played itself out time and time again over the past 30 years. Global investors, disappointed with the returns they’re getting, search for alternatives. They think they’ve found what they’re looking for in some country or other, and money rushes in.

But eventually it becomes clear that the investment opportunity wasn’t all it seemed to be, and the money rushes out again, with nasty consequences for the former financial favorite. That’s the story of multiple financial crises in Latin America and Asia. And it’s also the story of the U.S. combined housing and credit bubble. These days, we’re playing the role usually assigned to third-world economies.

the news that's already out there about the deepening u.s. financial crisis and the tanking economy is bad enough... given our media's penchant for NOT giving us the full story on anything else, is there any reason to think that things might not be a great deal WORSE than we're hearing...?

National security is being invoked not to protect us but to shield politicians from embarrassment

[...]

There are genuine threats to national security and to our public and personal safety. It is a dangerous abuse if a government hoists the flag of national security and deploys the Official Secrets Act when all it is really trying to do is protect itself from embarrassment.

In the US, we've recently seen the State Secrets card played to cover up illegal spying, torture, and any number of other crimes - including complicity in the spread of nuclear weapons to our purported enemies.

Enough is enough.

enough HAS been enough for a very long time now, but the merry band of criminals keeps on a'rollin'...

p.s. i haven't excerpted the meat, so i suggest visiting luke's sibel site and reading it all...

Thursday, January 17, 2008

[Canada] has put the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on a watch list for torture.

[...]

The list includes Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and China. But surprisingly, it also included the United States, Guantánamo, and Israel.

It notes specific "U.S. interrogation techniques," which include "forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation." The U.S. has repeatedly denied allegations by international groups that it tortures prisoners captured in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. However, U.S. officials have refused to comment on the Canadian list.

But international observers say they are heartened by the specificity of the Canadian list. Alex Neve of Amnesty International says he is surprised that Canada would risk offending allies by naming countries that potentially torture prisoners.

"These are countries where, sadly, the record is clear -- torture and ill treatment happens," said Neve.

But it appears that Ottawa may have had second thoughts about being so explicit. After the documents were released as evidence in a court case relating to Afghan detainees, the government tried to get them back. Sources say that Ottawa apparently wanted to black out sensitive parts that may anger allies.

tough noogies, canada... the cat's out of the bag, and i have to say, i'm heartened that you folks in the great white north have enough integrity to put us on the list in the first place...

Today's "And, yes, I DO take it personally" radio show

i just finished today's segment of the "And, yes, I DO take it personally" radio show on blog talk radio... the highlight without a doubt was having co-blogger, brother tim, call in... i would have given him more time if i had bothered to look at whether someone was waiting in the call-in cue, but, hey... i'm still getting used to their system... anyway, you can listen here...

Why you don't see much of Dennis in the media

Kucinich got a chance to participate in some debates, but overall the US news media has iced him out.

Little or no coverage, not-so-subtle ridicule, exclusion from many of the televised debates.

Why?

Just listen to what he has to say:

* He voted against the Patriot Act,* He's pro-union* He's against "new world order" trade agreements like NAFTA* He's against military intervention overseas and* He is pushing for Bush's IMMEDIATE impeachment.

In other words, he's someone who represents the citizens of the US, not its corporations and criminal/government class.

brasscheck tv adds this note...

(Note: I'm not endorsing or not endorsing Kucinich. This was the best Kucinich video I found and it happened to have campaign information in the footer.)

The system could also “automatically detect frustration or stress in the user” and “offer and provide assistance accordingly”. Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker’s weight, age and health. If the system picked up an increase in heart rate or facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help.

i'm sure the objective is to insure that there isn't a square inch on the face of the earth where we AREN'T under surveillance... if such a system is available for use on computer work stations in our places of employment, you can pretty well figure it's ALREADY in use covertly, and probably has been for some time now...

how very interesting... i glanced at this post just a moment ago to find that the video had been replaced by a banner stating that "you cannot view this video on this website..." wexler's website offers the code to embed the video, so i know it's not restricted... i returned to wexler's site, re-copied the embed code, replaced the code in the post body, and re-posted... it works now, but let's see what happens after a while...

How the Pentagon planted a false story and a true hero thwarted it

WASHINGTON - Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the January 6 US-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran's military aggressiveness, a reconstruction of the events following the incident shows.

The initial press stories on the incident, all of which can be traced to a briefing by deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs in charge of media operations, Bryan Whitman, contained similar information that has since been repudiated by the navy itself.

[...]

Just two weeks earlier, on December 19, the USS Whidbey Island, an amphibious warship, had fired warning shots after a small Iranian boat allegedly approached it at high speed. That incident had gone without public notice.

With the reports from Fifth Fleet commander Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff in hand early that morning, top Pentagon officials had all day Sunday, January 6, to discuss what to do about the encounter in the Strait of Hormuz. The result was a decision to play it up as a major incident.

The decision came just as President George W Bush was about to leave on a Middle East trip aimed in part at rallying Arab states to join the United States in an anti-Iran coalition.

That decision in Washington was followed by a news release by the commander of the Fifth Fleet on the incident at about 4am Washington time on January 7. It was the first time the Fifth Fleet had issued a news release on an incident with small Iranian boats.

The release reported that the Iranian "small boats" had "maneuvered aggressively in close proximity of [sic] the Hopper [the lead ship of the three-ship convoy]." But it did not suggest that the Iranian boats had threatened the boats or that it had nearly resulted in firing on the Iranian boats.

On the contrary, the release made the US warships handling of the incident sound almost routine. "Following standard procedures," the release said, "Hopper issued warnings, attempted to establish communications with the small boats and conducted evasive maneuvering."

The release did not refer to a US ship being close to firing on the Iranian boats, or to a call threatening that US ships would "explode in a few minutes", as later stories would report, or to the dropping of objects into the path of a US ship as a potential danger.

That press release was ignored by the news media, however, because later that Monday morning, the Pentagon provided correspondents with a very different account of the episode.

At 9am, Barbara Starr of CNN reported that "military officials" had told her that the Iranian boats had not only carried out "threatening maneuvers", but had transmitted a message by radio that "I am coming at you" and "you will explode". She reported the dramatic news that the commander of one boat was "in the process of giving the order to shoot when they moved away".

CBS News broadcast a similar story, adding the detail that the Iranian boats "dropped boxes that could have been filled with explosives into the water". Other news outlets carried almost identical accounts of the incident.

The source of this spate of stories can now be identified as Bryan Whitman, the top Pentagon official in charge of media relations, who gave a press briefing for Pentagon correspondents that morning. Although Whitman did offer a few remarks on the record, most of the Whitman briefing was off the record, meaning that he could not be cited as the source.

a similar routine mid-december encounter passes without notice... the decision to "play up" the 6 january incident was made on a sunday in washington to coincide with the start of bush's middle east trip... on monday morning, the fifth fleet commander issues an unprecedented press release, calling attention to the routine nature of the encounter... do you suppose fifth fleet commander, vice admiral kevin cosgriff, chose to be the spoiler, deliberately stepping in to avoid wwIII, scotching the rest of his military career, but showing us all what heroes are really made of...? methinks the vice admiral knew exactly what he was doing and, per the previous post, i would firmly place him at that white house conference table...

The most in-your-face criminal gang the world has ever seen

all effort to maintain even a pretense of accountability and respect for the rule of law has been abandoned...

The White House has acknowledged recycling its backup computer tapes of e-mail before October 2003, raising the possibility that many electronic messages — including those pertaining to the CIA leak case — have been taped over and are gone forever.

The disclosure came minutes before midnight Tuesday under a court-ordered deadline that forced the White House to reveal information it has previously refused to provide.

Among the e-mails that could be lost are messages swapped by any White House officials involved in discussions about leaking a CIA officer's identity to reporters.

Before October 2003, the White House recycled its backup tapes "consistent with industry best practices," according to a sworn statement by a White House aide.

Backup tapes are the last line of defense for saving electronic records.

Separately, the statement reveals the extent to which the White House is apparently unable to answer how many e-mails are missing from White House servers.

The White House "does not know if any e-mails were not properly preserved in the archiving process," said the statement by Theresa Payton, chief information officer for the White House Office of Administration. "We are continuing our efforts," said Payton, whose staff is responsible for the White House e-mail system.

If the e-mails were not saved, the White House might have violated two laws requiring preservation of documents that fall into the categories of federal records or presidential records.

yeah... well... ok... it was abandoned quite some time ago...

my fantasy...scene: fade-in to white house conference room where george bush, dick cheney, and their senior staff aides are seated along one side of the table... across from them are seated select senior members of congress, the military, and the judiciary, who have jointly requested the meeting...

congressional spokesperson: thank you, mr. president for agreeing to meet with us and for gathering your senior officials on such short notice... let me get right to the point... we are here to demand your resignation and that of the key members of your administration... we are doing this under the full authority of the united states constitution... the supreme court has affirmed that we have this authority, and the joint chiefs of staff have agreed to provide us with the full backing of the united states military... our intent is not a takeover, but rather to restore the rule of law, adherence to the constitution with its mandated balance of powers, and the responsibility for accountability and oversight that the constitution has vested in congress... a caretaker administration has been appointed and is waiting to assume the day-to-day functions of running the government until such time as national elections can be scheduled, no later than six months from today... should you choose not to comply with this request, mr. president, the joint chiefs of staff have authorized the senior military provost marshall to detain you and your officials so that the caretaker government can be installed...

hey...! it's MY fantasy, and i'm stickin' to it...

just for fun, besides george and dick, who else would you want seated at the table...?

Hal Turner is one serious extremist. He may also be on the FBI payroll.

On Jan. 1, unidentified hackers electronically confronted Turner in the forum of his website for “The Hal Turner Show.” After a heated exchange, they told Turner that they had successfully hacked into his server and found correspondence with an FBI agent who is apparently Turner’s handler. Then they posted an alleged July 7 E-mail to the agent in which Turner hands over a message from someone who sent in a death threat against Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.). “Once again,” Turner writes to his handler, “my fierce rhetoric has served to flush out a possible crazy.” In what is allegedly a portion of another E-mail, Turner discusses the money he is paid.

On Thursday, as the E-mail exchange was heatedly discussed on a major neo-Nazi website, Turner suddenly announced he was quitting political work. “I hereby separate from the ‘pro-White’ movement,” he said, adding that he was ending his radio show immediately. “I will no longer involve myself in any aspect of it.”

The FBI declined comment. “Longstanding FBI policy prohibits disclosing who may or may not provide information,” Agent Richard Kolko of the agency’s press unit said. Reached in New Jersey, Turner also declined all comment.

We have to use our critical capacities and understand the system in which we live. The system is controlled by powerful forces that act through corporations, government, intelligence agencies, police forces and the courts, the education system, and on and on. Why would they leave alone alternative news sources, sources that could potentially work to unite normal people against the pathocrats?

They would never leave such channels free. On the contrary, they would spend large sums of money to control them to ensure that the only news that people receive keeps them within the bounds that are permissible in the pathocracy. Opposition must be controlled. People need to have the appearance of free speech and of a certain choice in where they get their information. That is just part of the capitalist marketplace that promotes the illusion that it is your choice in what you consume that makes you free. News and information are no different. But that means that even news and information that appears to be oppositional must really be held within certain acceptable boundaries.

That is why critical thought and analysis are so important. Nothing can be accepted at face value. Just because someone claims that they are in opposition doesn't mean that he or she really is. If they are not exposed, they become Pied Pipers leading their followers deeper and deeper into the swamp. Anger at current policies and injustices can be used and then spent to fuel pointless and even dangerous responses that accomplish nothing positive and that in fact simply make the situation worse and feed into the long-term plans of the pathocrats.

indeed, critical thought and the power of discernment are truly our only defenses against the many lies that bombard us every minute of every day... as i've said repeatedly, i believe EVERYTHING and i believe NOTHING...

Here it comes, the next big story - U.S. inflation

i was largely non compos mentis during the last period of serious inflation in the u.s. in the early and mid-70s... yeah, i knew it was going on and, yeah, i knew it was a problem, but i honestly either don't remember or perhaps didn't experience much of a personal impact... contrast that with my more recent experience in argentina, which has been trying to grapple with what government figures declare is a 9% inflation rate, but my first-hand, on-the-street experience of watching prices rise literally before my eyes tells me is at least 12% percent and maybe even as high as 19%... so, if WHOLESALE inflation in the u.s. for ALL of 2007 is 6.3 percent, you have to believe that, with the recent steep rises in food and basic commodity prices, the real personal impact is a minimum of several points higher...

i had an experience with u.s. inflation just this past sunday while i was perusing the menu prices at a down-scale, storefront, strip mall, family-run, mexican restaurant, usually the very best bet for value... the average entree is now 25% more than last year at this time, and a full 60% more than early 2003...

The Labor Department reported that wholesale inflation was up 6.3 percent for all of 2007, reflecting a huge increase for the year in various types of energy costs ranging from gasoline to home heating oil.

The year ended on a more positive note, with wholesale prices falling by 0.1 percent in December. That reflected decreasing costs at the time for gasoline and other energy products. It was a significant slowdown after prices had soared by 3.2 percent in November, which had been the biggest one-month increase in 34 years.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that retail sales fell by 0.4 percent in December. It was a worse-than-expected decline and increased worries that the country could topple into a recession.

Monday, January 14, 2008

We Are Trained Killers

I am afraid we have become the enemy we sought to destroy. Look at what we have done to them, and to our own soldiers. This isn't victory, it's just death.Worst of all, I am very ashamed of myself. I keep asking the question in my mind, "Why did they shoot that dog?"Am I just another agent of evil that cares little for the dehumanization of our enemy, if indeed those Iraqis shown are our enemy?I think before I can judge the actions of those in this film, I need to look into myself and answer that question.Many sleepless nights ahead, I think.

(you're right, jim... it IS disturbing... EXTREMELY disturbing... so much so, in fact, that i decided to jump in and post the youtube video here...

Good news... Kucinich to be included in NV debate

A Nevada judge said Monday that Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich must be included in Tuesday's candidates' debate in Nevada.

Senior Clark County District Court Judge Charles Thompson said if Kucinich is excluded, he'll issue an injunction stopping the televised debate.

The judge sided with a lawyer for the Ohio congressman, who says debate host MSNBC at first invited Kucinich to take part and then told him last week he couldn't.

when our news media start blatantly and openly deciding which presidential candidates we get to see and hear in the most important election in the country's history, it's about goddam time the justice system weighed in on the side of the first amendment...

i've posted previously (here and here) on the increasing and deeply disturbing prevalence of the term "warrior" to describe those we send off to fight and die protecting the "interests" of our nation monied elites... here's another, equally disturbing one that just caught my attention...

“Lockheed Martin continues to focus on providing our Warfighters with new and innovative technologies that will make their jobs easier,” said Lionel Liebman, manager of Program Development – Applied Research at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

also interesting that "warfighter" is capitalized...

what the increasing visibility of these terms suggests to me is that we are continuing to be slowly inculcated to seeing war as an integral part of our society... yes, it's true, that serving our country via military service has, at least in the past, been seen as an honorable calling, whether it's just for one hitch or for a career... these people have always been known variously as "members of the military," "career military," "soldiers," "sailors," "airmen," "marines," or, simply, "our troops"... all of those sobriquets implied government service, love of country, defense of freedom, etc., etc...

but what is implied by "warrior" and "warfighter"...? to me, for one thing, they do NOT imply any of those other things... "warrior," for instance, for me, calls to mind warrior nations like sparta, where the entire society was devoted to conquest, or to descriptions of the marauding huns, usually characterized as a "warlike" people... the only "service" implied is service to death and destruction... "warfighter" is even more chilling... to me, that word implies a weapon of advanced technology, an implement, if you will, of accomplishing that death and destruction...

words are powerful and the words we choose to use convey a great deal about our beliefs and views of the world... "warrior" and "warfighter" make my skin crawl...

actually, it's not really an update, more of a p.s... in reflecting on this some more, there's yet another connotation of "warfighter" that suddenly hit me... i won't tell you what it is... instead, let's see if somebody can pick it up and note it in the comments...

Debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act “will be a walk in the park compared to this,” McConnell said. “this is going to be a goat rope on the Hill. My prediction is that we’re going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens.”

The article, which profiles the 65-year-old former admiral appointed by President George W. Bush in January 2007 to oversee all of America's intelligence agencies, was not published on the New Yorker's Web site [PDF].

McConnell is developing a Cyber-Security Policy, still in the draft stage, which will closely police Internet activity.

"Ed Giorgio, who is working with McConnell on the plan, said that would mean giving the government the autority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer or Web search," author Lawrence Wright pens.

“Google has records that could help in a cyber-investigation, he said," Wright adds. "Giorgio warned me, 'We have a saying in this business: ‘Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.'"

A zero-sum game is one in which gains by one side come at the expense of the other. In other words -- McConnell's aide believes greater security can only come at privacy's expense.

[...]

The infrastructure to tap into Americans' email and web search history may already be in place.

Whistleblower Mark Klein said that a copy of all Internet traffic passing over AT&T lines was copied into a locked room at the company's San Francisco office -- to which only employees with National Security Agency clearance had access -- via a cable splitting device.

i know there's a lot of folks out there that, when this stuff registers on their radar screen, somehow manage to shrug and just let it roll off their backs... others are easily distracted by the bells and whistles of the election campaign, somehow believing that the "right" choice for our next president will somehow magically insure salvation... then there are those like me and a few others who see the broader pattern of what's happening and have heart palpitations over every fresh revelation... but, putting all those folks together still doesn't add up to more than a few, single-digit percentage points of the citizenry... how many out there actually bother to inform themselves to the extent that they even READ articles like this...? how many actually UNDERSTAND that our precious constitution is being systematically shredded, that the rule of law has gone out the window, and that accountability is at the top of the endangered species list...? or do they know and just not care as long as there is no significant impact on their daily lives...?

btw, the big dog walked through a flood-damaged neighborhood near here in fernley yesterday, since he happened to be in the area, stumping for hillary... i don't like the man and i don't trust him as far as i can throw him, but, credit where credit is due... it was a demonstration of personal connection and compassion that i seriously believe george bush is incapable of...

It was a brief stop on the road between campaign rallies for his wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton. But his mood reflected the grimness of the disaster scene before him.

With a stiff jaw, he scraped the muck from his boots before walking into the ruined home of Susan Camp.

"Sir, you don't have to wipe your feet," her son, Brad, said as the former president stood in the doorway.

"Of course I do," Clinton answered.

[...]

"I wanted to see the damage and express my support," Clinton said. "Disaster management response is one of the most important things a government can do. If you do it well, people feel that they are a part of our country--wherever they live, whatever the politics are, whatever the income is.

"And if you don't, people feel profoundly let down."

you don't think he had any particular thing in mind when he said that, do ya...? nah...

Conventional Wisdom Man

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Admiral Mullen on Guantánamo: "More than anything else it's been the image"

'scuse me...?

Asked why he thinks Guantánamo, Bay, commonly dubbed Gitmo, should be closed, and the prisoners perhaps moved to U.S. soil, [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen] said, "More than anything else it's been the image — how Gitmo has become around the world, in terms of representing the United States."

Critics have charged that detainees have been mistreated in some cases and that the legal conditions of their detentions are not consistent with the rule of law.

"I believe that from the standpoint of how it reflects on us that it's been pretty damaging," Mullen said, speaking in a small boat that ferried him to and from the detention facilities across a glistening bay.

i think mike mullen may actually be more of a straight-shooter than most, but, i gotta tell ya, guantánamo has an image problem for a REASON... it's not like it's some kind of false, contrived, deliberate disinformation campaign has been waged on the place... ferchrissakes, mike... get a clue...

The hypocrite-in-chief is still lusting after war with Iran [UPDATE]

even tho' the u.s. media continues to dutifully report his unending bellicosity, despite the fact that there is virtually NOBODY left who believes a word he says, george is going to keep on beating the drums of war until the little men in white coats lead him away...

read this and see if ya think he sounds like he's gettin' desperate...

President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger "before it's too late."

Bush said Iran funds terrorist extremists, undermines stability in Lebanon, sends arms to the hardline Taliban regime, intimidates its neighbors with alarming rhetoric and defies the United Nations by refusing to be open about its nuclear program.

"Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror," Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip, which began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact — an accord he said whose "time has come."

Chiding U.S. allies who have withheld civil liberties, Bush said governments will never build trust by harassing or imprisoning candidates and protesters. But his rebuke was general, and he did not single out any U.S. partner in the region for oppressive practices.

"You cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future when they are jailed for peacefully petitioning their government," Bush said. "And you cannot stand up a modern, confident nation when you do not allow people to voice their legitimate criticisms."

gosh... where to start...? nah... not worth it... just soak in the irony that the leader of the "world's leading state sponsor of terror," and the leader of a country that is not only setting up all the mechanisms for "harassing or imprisoning" its citizens for "peacefully petitioning their government," and, in fact, is already doing so, is delivering a lecture like this...

“He told the Israelis that he can’t control what the intelligence community says, but that [the NIE’s] conclusions don’t reflect his own views” about Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, said the official, who would discuss intelligence matters only on the condition of anonymity.